BlackCattleRancher
Well-known member
Looking at trying to make some baldies on my black angus cows. Got my eye on Harland, is he smoke and mirrors or the real deal. Would he work ok on black heifers calving ease wise? Thanks for the input.
Doug Thorson said:Excuse me for bashing EPD's, but the numbers just don't add up to me. 789's calves have an average weaning ratio of 99% and his mother has an average of 98% on 9 calves but his weaning EPD is +52.
I have CO L1 Domino 847 (not ready to call him a heifer bull) whose calves have averaged 106% weaning ratio and his mother has averaged 107% on 8 calves and has DOD behind her but 847's EPD for weaning is +51.
Sorry for my personal rant but that is not the first time I have seen bulls in a stud catalog that the numbers just don't add up.
SMN Herf said:It really depends on what your goals are and where your cow herd is at now.
I am not a huge fan of Harland although I wouldn't be afraid of his birthweight. He will certainly work in the right situation. I would rather use the 3027 bull as the ones I have seen have had a little more thickness and doability on less frame than the Harlands. I have seen quite a few harlands that just dont have enough volume and thickness for their frame that I like to see. In addition his fat numbers are really really high, like in the fatest 1/2 percent in the breed. I tend to stay away from extremes like that. If you want to stay within the ABS lineup of bulls, and 3027 isn't enough performance for you look at the Ribeye bull or if you want alot of growth check into the Thor bull too, but he isn't as well proven yet.
Lots of options out there too if you want to work with private breeders whose bulls aren't in some fancy semen catalog that work in the real world.
Brian